NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. — The men and women who put their lives on the line to protect others will get a pay raise with the Fernandina Beach Fire Department.
Through the renegotiation of their current merit payment system, Fire Chief Ty Silcox told Action News Jax all personnel will receive a 4% pay increase.
“The 4% that our firefighters are getting was an MOU,” Silcox said. “It was to extend our current contract that we have with our firefighters. Our current contract has a merit pay scale of 1%-6% based on the employee’s evaluation. We elected to do an MOU with our collective bargaining group to make sure that we could work on a different type of pay scale that we’re looking at going to in the future.”
Silcox said this will include all 35 personnel for the next two years, which includes all firefighters, EMT, and paramedics.
TRENDING:
The minimal annual salary for a Fernandina Beach firefighter, EMT and FF, or paramedic starts at $33,594. Firefighters are listed as non-exempt (hourly) employees and their annual compensation varies on hours worked.
The starting salary for Nassau County firefighters is an average of $34,660; St. Johns County starts with approximately $37,923; and Duval County has a $40,524 base salary as of October 1.
The Fernandina Beach Fire Department is also receiving nearly $195,000 more from the city this fiscal year.
According to the 2019-2020 proposed budget, the fire department will receive $3,993,942 in this fiscal year. The police department will receive $4,974,872.
Silcox said they have plans to replace some expired equipment, including a new fire engine.
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